The little UX lives at the bottom end of Lexus’s SUV lineup, nestled up somewhat affordably underneath the compact NX. Actually, we wouldn’t go so far as to call the UX an SUV—it’s solidly a car-based crossover that sits barely higher than your average small hatchback—but we can now describe it as updated for 2023. Among its changes? Lexus is ditching the UX’s gas-fed version (formerly known as the UX200), leaving behind only the hybrid UX 250h.
Touched By a Touchscreen Angel
First put on offer for 2019, the smallest Lexus crossover is among several models in the luxury maker’s lineup that had yet to transition to its latest, er, cabin user experience (also known as, you guessed it, “UX”). In other words, it still came saddled with Lexus’s odd touchpad-based infotainment system, which operated something like a laptop trackpad: Users manipulated a touchpad between the front seats to move a cursor around on the dashboard display, clicking on menu selections as desired. It wasn’t so much that the setup was unintuitive, as most people have used a laptop at some point, but rather that it took concentration to move the cursor around, more so when the car was moving and jostling about.
Thankfully, Lexus has remedied this now-outmoded tech, replacing it in the UX lineup with its newest Lexus Interface multimedia touchscreen infotainment system that debuted in the larger NX crossover last year. Now, entry-level UXhs will get an 8.0-inch touchscreen while the real wower is the available 12.3-inch unit, which rises tablet-like from the top of the dashboard; both displays are seemingly a short reach from the steering wheel. The setups include the ability to pair two phones simultaneously via Bluetooth, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and Google POI (point-of-interest) search capability. You can also say “hey, Lexus” to initiate voice commands.
Underneath the new touchscreens, which are situated closer to the front seat passengers than the old, touchpad-controlled display, Lexus redesigned the secondary controls, spreading them out and making them more recognizable, and added two USB ports. The climate controls, for example, now have what seem to be larger and clearer readouts above the buttons, and there is space at the front of the center console for what appears to be a wireless phone charger. The real estate previously devoted to the infamous touchpad? That’s now a square array of seat heating and cooling controls, as well as the heated steering wheel button.
F Sportier
Already available with Lexus’s F Sport appearance package, the UX sees that kit expand for 2023 to include more hardware changes in service of a more athletic drive via a new F Sport Handling package. In brief, there are now two F Sport treatments: One is a design-only upgrade, as it was before, with special wheels, a different grille, a black-painted roof, and body-color fender flares (Lexus also tosses in automatic headlight leveling, rain sensing windshield wipers, a moonroof, and fog lights); the other gets the same equipment, plus some handling upgrades. Specifically, the F Sport Handling package adopts an electronically adaptive suspension (Active Variable Suspension in Lexus parlance), a steering gear brace, and a rear Yamaha structural damper to “quickly absorb body flex and minor vibrations.” This rear structural damper is offered on other Lexus models, including the ES.
The Handling package also gains sport seats, an F Sport steering wheel and shift knob, and aluminum foot pedals and door sill plates. Amusingly, Lexus also notes how a digital key function, auto-dimming and heated side mirrors, and a HomeLink garage opener “increase the F Sport Handling experience for the driver in tangible ways.” Is Lexus suggesting the actual handling upgrades aren’t as tangible as a garage door opener or a memory function for the heated and cooled seats? We digress.
Safety! There Is Now More Of It
A series of small changes to the Lexus’s standard active safety features prompts an upgrade from Safety System+ 2.0 to the Safety System+ 2.5. This results in improved frontal camera and radar sensor performance for a wider viewing angle and tighten up response times to pedestrians and other objects. The lane-tracing self-steering function is said to operate more smoothly and over a wider envelope, for “more continuous steering assist” when active. And finally, the adaptive cruise control function gains the ability to slow for approaching curves.
No mechanical changes beneath the UX 250h’s skin are noted, which we take to mean the hybrid retains its 2.0-liter I-4 gas engine supported by an electric motor in front, along with another electric motor powering the rear axle, for a total of 181 hp. While not the most thrilling powertrain, this hybrid setup has delivered solid fuel economy in the past; a 2022 UX 250h AWD is estimated by the EPA to deliver 41 mpg city, 38 mpg highway, and 39 mpg combined. Pricing and final details are expected closer to the 2023 Lexus UX 250h’s on-sale date this summer.
Keyword: 2023 Lexus UX 250h First Look: More Safer, More Touchier, More Hybrid